first kiss

"What are you doing there?"

A child, no older than seven, asked in a rather menacing voice - well, as menacing as such a small child could be. Not forgetting to put a sharp glare on his eyes, he looked down at his... 'conversation' partner; if you could even call it that. In any case, the only thing that he cared about for now is the fact that someone had breached his area: indeed, the other child, a girl of his age, had occupied the spot under the shades of osmanthus tree that he had claimed as his territory... something that nobody had ever done out of fear towards him - or perhaps his family. However, the girl didn't look familiar at all, and he could've sworn he's never seen her around: would that make her a transfer student to this kindergarten? Perhaps, but this wasn't the time to think about that.

"..."

The other child glanced up towards him with glistening eyes. She seemed to be holding in tears - the boy flinched in surprise. He couldn't utter a single word, faced with an innocent, sorrowful expression.

"Oh... uh-uhm, I'm just reading my favorite picture book...!" She squeaked, as she showed him the book she'd spread open on the ground. It seems that the contents of the book was the reason for her teary expression. After a short moment of silence between the two (the boy was inspecting the book, it seemed), the girl asked coyly, yet somehow in a tone more cheery than before: "...Do you want to join?"

"...-!"

Before he could even utter a word of rejection, she had already stood up and took his hands - all the while introducing herself, and tugging at him to sit down. Almost in reflex, the boy also introduced himself - after all, it's only manners to introduce yourself after another did to you, and manners are, to put it lightly, a rather big deal in his family.

"I'm Hibari Kyoya," he replied, without breaking his straight expression.

With her hands still on his, she smiled brightly, "Nice to meet you, Hibari!"

Hibari's eyes widened at the response - and, upon realizing the physical contact that remained still, he immediately pulled his arms away, effectively breaking it... as well as the girl's balance.

"He... -eh...!?"

Losing her balance, she fell forward with no way of stopping. Unable to withstand her weight and the impact of the fall, Hibari also fell, and the two of them ended up on the ground with a thud.

Yet, what took both of them a minute to realize is the fact that something soft was pressing into their lips - and, for Hibari, a slight ticklish sensation on his ears, as soft strands of hair caressed it upon impact.

"!?"

Indeed they'd kissed, albeit accidentally - and, surprisingly, the first to recover was the girl. Her cheeks bloomed into a rosy shade and she immediately stood up, muttering words of apology before turning around and running away into the school building.

Meanwhile, Hibari sat on the ground, unmoving, as he hadn't yet able to decipher the events transpired a while ago. After a short while, though, he covered his lips with his right hand, and a soft shade of red began spreading on his cheeks. In an attempt to regain his composure, Hibari shook his head. Upon doing so, his eyes met with an opened picture book on the ground: ah, this must be hers.

It seemed like another meeting was inevitable.

---

The most surprising of meetings will sometimes end up as the ones you treasure the most, he remembered someone say. And for him, that might be true: the entire mafia fiasco, as well as his current standing in life certainly wasn't something he'd be able to predict even with his extraordinarily high intelligence. Yet wherever he goes a carnage follows, so in a sense, it might be a natural thing that he'd end up in a mafia family, of all things. "Though, of course, everything started because of that Reborn," Hibari mused, as his light steps brought him to a sliding door of what seemed to be a Japanese-styled room.

Hibari had just came back to Japan after a week of traveling overseas to look for information regarding box weapons - and while that one week was objectively quite short, he couldn't help but to feel comfort and familiarity in the Foundation headquarters, and most especially this room. On the way there he had met Kusakabe, his capable right hand man, who had assured him that the headquarters were as peaceful as ever, and because of that, he should go straight to where he wanted to be. And so, Hibari took his offer in strides without wasting a mere second.

He slid the door open, as the calming scent of green tea welcomed him. And then, he said the words he'd said countless times before:

"I'm home."

A sitting figure clad in a yukata turned around. Judging from the plate of castela beside her and the book on her hands, it seems that she was indulging on one of her favorite past times: a reading session while looking out into the Japanese garden right outside the sliding door on the other side. The woman closed her book as she replied, with her voice that sounded like soft wind chimes to his ears, "Welcome home, Kyoya."

As usual, her eyes radiated warmth and affection, and Hibari's legs automatically brought him towards her, wanting to spend not even a second longer away from the figure that, over the years, had become an irreplaceable treasure to him.

And when their distance was merely a step away, he kneeled, matching their eye level. The woman smiled, and Hibari, still with his usual straight face, reached towards the back of her head with his hand, slowly pulling her towards him as he leaned in for a kiss.

It was a light, comforting kiss at first - yet, for some reason, today he couldn't help but to remember their first kiss back in kindergarten; if you could even call it that. While their lips did touch, it only felt like a light bump and nothing else - fair, considering they were but young children. However, now, both of them are adults, capable of doing much more - and so, he gradually deepened the kiss, passionately feeling each other's warmth after a week of being far away from each other.

"Kyo, ya..."

Hibari could feel that she's probably out of breath right now - if only from the way she tightly grasped on his suit, and the way she tried to pull away to no avail due to his hand on the back of her head. Wistfully, Hibari pulled away and broke the kiss, eyes fixated still on the woman with red, red cheeks in front of him.

After she regained her breathing, it was her turn to reach her arms out to Hibari: she embraced him, resting her ear on his chest, simply feeling and listening to the sound of his beating heart. Hibari heaved a sigh: this was something akin to a ritual for her. Ever since she discovered he was part of a mafia family, whenever he came home after work, she would, without fail, embrace him just like this. She had explained before that it was to confirm his existence, to make sure he's actually there, alive, by her side. Regardless, Hibari always thought of it as illogical and ridiculous; after all, he's right there, they were kissing just a few moments ago, and look - he has legs and they touched the ground, so there's no way he's some kind of an apparition. Yet, now that they've done it for years on end, a kind of fondness for the little 'ritual' had grown within him, nesting itself on a corner of his heart. After all, it's never a bad feeling to be embraced by your treasure, no?

And so, today too, he reached his arms to the woman's back, embracing her as they share a tender, warm moment together, just the two of them.